Among the junctions most affected are the Jubilee Hills checkpost, IIIT junction, Kothaguda junction, Khairatabad, Masab Tank and Cyber Towers, where the stoppage period is, at times, as high as 190 seconds and the green corridor only about 30 seconds.Preeti Biswas | TNN | April 24, 2016, 16:40 IST

This Picture is for Representative Purpose OnlyHYDERABAD: The Rs 70 crore Hyderabad Traffic Integrated Management System (HTRIMS) project, meant to modernise 221 traffic signals in the twin cities, appears to have come to a naught with majority of them reverting to their 'manual' days. Result: Longer waiting periods for motorists in this scorching heat!

Among the junctions most affected are the Jubilee Hills checkpost, IIIT junction, Kothaguda junction, Khairatabad, Masab Tank and Cyber Towers, where the stoppage period is, at times, as high as 190 seconds and the green corridor only about 30 seconds.

While the project was launched in 2013, officials confess to a return to the manual system. They attribute it to excessive congestion along these stretches, making it difficult for HTRIMS to work.

Predictably, commuting has become a nightmare. "I go to pick up my daughter from Gachibowli to Jubilee Hills every day. Longer duration of signals at IIIT-H junction and the Kothaguda junction has made commuting very inconvenient. I sometimes get stuck for two to three cycles at the same junction," said Sourav Sain, an IT employee.

Incidentally, as per Hyderabad Traffic Police data, the city has the second largest vehicle density in the country with 723 vehicles/km and an average speed of 12 kmph against the country average of 20 kmph.

"The manual operation of the signals, coupled with frequent VIP movement and rising temperatures, only adds to the agony of driving. The police must reduce the cycles at a few busy junctions so that there is smooth flow of traffic," said Dev Yadagiri, a retail manager.

Meanwhile, while authorities, as part of HTRIMS, were expected to install cameras at every junction to determine the traffic flow in order to manage it intelligently, experts claim this is still missing.

"There are still many junctions where cameras are not installed. Had there been cameras, the traffic police wouldn't have operated signals manually. The cycle of the timers is so disproportionate that at junctions such as Jubilee Hills and Cyber Towers, commuters end up spending longer time at the signals," said C Ramachandriah, convenor of Citizens for Better Public Transport in Hyderabad.

Though traffic police deny this allegation, they admit to loopholes in HTRIMS. In fact, they have now taken up a study to optimise the signal cycles.

"We are aware that at various busy junctions, the waiting period is high. A study is being done to optimise the cycles. Once the study is over, we will seek suggestions from experts to change the cycles at busy junctions," said Jitender, additional commissioner of police (Traffic).

With 600 vehicles being added to the city every day, experts suggest that the right way to address this issue is by deciding the timing at every junction through the central control room.

"The Hyderabad Traffic Police must set up a server in the control room to decide on timings of various signals. The police can increase the green corridor not by handling it manually but by centralising the signals," suggested Jithender Kaushik, chief operating officer and founder of Onnyx Electronics, the company which set-up 1,400 smart signals in New Delhi.

In fact, segment leaders like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp have reported de-growth of 34.3 per cent, 45 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively giving a clear indication of a prolonged slowdown in the sector.